Welcome back!
This is part two of our Facebook trending topics guide.
If you missed part one, here it is.
Go read it – seriously.
Getting the whole picture of Facebook trends set to define 2020 (and beyond) is essential for any marketer.
Why Facebook?
Well, we already talked about that in part one. 🙄
But alright, fine, to reiterate, the power and growth of Facebook is unrivaled.
Check out these numbers:
- 1.62 billion daily active users on the platform in Q3 2019 (growth of 9% YoY)
- 2.8 billion unique users (“family” users) across its suite of apps
- Total advertisers increased from 6 million to 7 million YoY
- Revenue grew 29% in 2019, reaching $66.5 billion
So, let’s continue investigating what the Facebook insights guide revealed about trends for 2020.
In part two, we’re exploring the heightened importance of everyday moments, the rise of new platforms and channels for entertainment, and the popularity of more hands-on activities.
As in the previous part, we’ll dive into what each of these Facebook trends entails.
We’ll then look at examples and explain how to leverage these in your Facebook marketing.
When you create a marketing strategy based on what you know people are talking about, your chances of success skyrocket.
So, get informed and keep reading to learn about the Facebook trending topics of today.
Creating a Special Moment From the Mundane
Even the most seemingly common parts of a daily ritual present opportunities for creating special, unique moments.
This is the idea behind the micro-experience Facebook trend.
In Thailand, this is reflected in the growing craft coffee scene.
For many of us, coffee is an essential part of the day – if not the only way we can start the day.
In Thailand, coffee drinking has a different connotation.
Many people didn’t drink coffee, in fact, due to its high cost and the fact that the grounds were often cut with fillers that changed the flavor.
Now, however, foreign establishments and independent coffee entrepreneurs are changing the caffeinated landscape of the region.
Coffee shops are becoming popular hangouts, where knowledge around coffee culture is shared and spread.
That’s where specific terms are gaining popularity, like “Espresso” and “Caffe Americano”.
Each of these terms enjoyed a 1.6X and 1.5X YoY increase in Facebook conversation, respectively.
As coffee culture continues to grow, the enjoyment around coffee becomes a moment in itself.
And though here in the U.S., we’ve already been enjoying a robust craft coffee scene since 2017, the idea of enjoying it as an experience in and of itself is a trend to watch this decade.
Speaking of the U.S., we have a daily routine experience of our own: the bath.
The importance of self-care is clearly visible in the U.S.
For example, it was the most popular mobile app theme in 2018.
Wellness, self-care, and taking “me time” are all contributing factors to the fact that bathtime landed in the Facebook insights report.
Terms like “sea salt” and “milk bath”, which each grew over 1.1X YoY on Facebook, indicate that people are making this routine special.
Bathtime is no longer just about hygiene or even relaxing.
While it still has the benefits of both of those things, it’s now a special experience that people enjoy connecting about and sharing their tips on.
Connecting With Your Audience Over Daily Moments on Facebook
Everyday moments give you as a marketer the opportunity to connect with audiences regularly and effectively.
Get to know your audience’s routines and leverage that in your Facebook ads.
Facebook and Instagram Stories, in particular, are great for this due to their spontaneous, in-the-moment nature.
McDonald’s is an excellent example.
With a goal of boosting awareness and driving sales of their new McCafé offerings, they created these Stories targeted at millennials in Malaysia.
Animated elements, value callouts (e.g. 100% Arabica beans), and an engaging format led to 3X more in-store sales over the two months the ads ran.
This quote from Dorothy Fong, CEO of digital agency IDOTYOU, provides some key insights:
“Creating ephemeral content on Instagram for McDonald’s is one crucial digital strategy we will be focusing on a lot this year. We have started early in experimenting with ads in Instagram Stories for McDonald’s to capture the target audience’s attention in a less “advertising” fashion and in a more native way. So far, the results have been amazing and we’ll continue to develop on it.”
Tapping into everyday experiences in a format that felt engaging and natural can help drive the success of your Facebook marketing.
Emergence of New Entertainment Channels as a Facebook Trending Topic
The rise of new platforms for people to stream their favorite shows, play video games, and more is not a new phenomenon.
There have been numerous moments in entertainment history that prove this to be the case.
There was the transition to DVD from VHS.
Or the invention of TiVo, which transformed both video advertisers’ and viewers’ habits.
Today, it’s all about over-the-top (OTT) programming.
These streaming platforms are leading to more and more people “cutting the cord” when it comes to cable.
In fact, by 2020, 45% of U.S. households will have stopped watching a pay TV service.
And in its stead, over 68% of U.S. households now have a connected TV.
With OTT as the new normal, it’s easy to understand how people have become more open and used to alternative entertainment channels.
This is where the Facebook insights guide comes in.
The rise of new entertainment mediums, like podcast adaptations in the US and esports in Indonesia, are the key Facebook trending topics to watch.
In Indonesia, the number of people playing mobile games is increasing by 12% annually.
Meanwhile, conversation around online gaming grew 2.2X YoY on Facebook.
These trends, combined with the fact that Indonesia is now hosting some of the largest regional esports competition, is contributing to the rise of this entertainment form.
In the U.S., the rise of screen adaptations of favorite podcasts is a Facebook trending topic to watch in 2020.
The terms “podcast” and “adaptation” each experienced 1.1X more conversation on Facebook compared to the previous year.
And clearly the topic of miniseries is a popular one, with 4.5X YoY growth.
And remember what we said earlier about the rise of OTT?
Well, many of these podcasts hitting the small and big screens are offered on OTT services, including free ones like Facebook Watch and Youtube TV.
With more programs and publishers on streaming services, expect cross-platform entertainment to become the norm in 2020 and beyond.
Reach People On the Platforms They’re Using
As with the other examples we’ve provided on how to leverage these Facebook trending topics, it doesn’t mean taking things literally.
We’re not suggesting you get into esports or bring a podcast to Netflix.
(But it’s not the worst idea if you do…)
Instead, we’re focusing on the broader consequences of these trends and how that can influence your marketing strategy.
If there’s any major theme that these Facebook topics of 2020 have in common it’s that cross-channel functionality matters.
Your customers have access to more platforms than ever.
That means they’re also spending their time across these apps and streaming devices in entirely new ways.
And they expect to be reached on more than one of them.
In fact, 72% of customers prefer an integrated marketing approach.
So, you should create ad campaigns and target audiences on multiple platforms.
From the newer options like TikTok and YouTube TV to the old standbys of Facebook and Instagram, there’s an abundance of marketing channels to choose from.
But, how can you decide which channels are right for your business?
Roger Maftean, a content marketing specialist at Zety, sums it up pretty well:
“Figuring out channel product fit is a balance of resources, monetization strategy, and customer interests,” Mastrandrea added. “When thinking about which new channel(s) to prioritize, reverse engineer who your customer is and pick a channel based on where their interests take them. Always test before you lean in and continue to keep an eye on your metrics as you measure efforts.”
Let’s take a look at some examples of cross-channel ad campaigns so you can see how this strategy works.
Multi-Channel Marketing Examples
Starbucks’ Frappuccino Happy Hour Tests Innovative Ways to Reach Customers
When Starbucks launched their Frappuccino Happy Hour Campaign, they took advantage of everything from SMS to calendar reminders.
On each channel, they offered unique content that often required customer participation.
For example, in stores, customers could scan a Snapchat code to access a custom lens.
Creating experiences like this that tap into the multi-channel Facebook trend heighten brand awareness, increase engagement, and drive in-store sales.
Additionally, they rolled out innovative features as part of the campaign that made it even easier to get people into stores.
Take their add-to-calendar feature on their website, for example.
Visitors could press the CTA on the website and be brought to a customized calendar landing page.
Engaging with customers in unique ways while continuing to drive towards the goal of in-store conversions is a major takeaway of this Starbucks campaign.
Maybe you want to try out innovative new marketing features.
Or, perhaps your multi-channel strategy is all about creating compelling, engaging copy across social media.
Regardless, there’s a lot that you can learn from this Starbucks example.
How Spotify Leverages the Multi-Platform Facebook Trending Topic
Spotify’s Wrapped campaign shows how effective a cross-channel campaign can be even when its main focus isn’t conversions.
Their campaign compiled listener data and presented it in an interactive, engaging format at the end of the year.
From exploring most-listened-to artists to total minutes spent streaming music, the platform presented data in a digestible and sharable format.
In order to encourage this, Spotify integrated the ability to share subscribers’ Wrapped results as a personalized card to Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
They also included big calls to action and share buttons within the campaign.
Oh, AND they ran a contest in which listeners could submit their Wrapped playlist to the designated website for a chance to be featured on billboards around the world.
So, it’s not such a big surprise that sharing is exactly what people did.
In fact, the 2018 Wrapped campaign became the #1 trending topic on Twitter.
It also led to over 5 billion streams of the “Your Top Songs 2018” playlist.
And, over 28 million users visited the Wrapped website – in just one week.
But, there was no clear call for unregistered users to subscribe to Spotify or upgrade to Premium.
So, how did it succeed in terms of both brand awareness and conversions?
Clearly, driving this much traffic and brand awareness helps when it comes to attracting new subscribers.
But, another big reason this is true is that it made people that couldn’t participate feel like they were left out.
That FOMO from non-subscribers can be a real conversion driver.
Nearly 69% of millennials identify FOMO as a major reason for their purchase decisions.
Overall, even though this cross-channel campaign didn’t explicitly try to get people to subscribe, it definitely helped in attracting 7 million new subscribers over 6 weeks during this holiday period.
Clearly, a brand awareness campaign can be just as effective across channels as one focusing on conversions.
Within that, creating highly shareable, personalized content is the key to emulating the type of success that Spotify enjoyed.
Immersive Activities Are on the Rise
A growing interest in adventure and craftsmanship is seizing the globe.
At least that’s what 2020 Facebook trends are indicating.
From Brazil to Canada to India, tactile activities are on the rise and are a key Facebook trending topic.
The appeal of outdoor activities, DIY, and more is all helped by the popularity of photo-based platforms, like Instagram.
Take India, for example.
The popularity of adventure sports there grew 178%.
But, conversation on Facebook around travel photography grew 2.2X YoY.
Sharing the adventurous spirit on social helps make this Facebook 2020 trend even more appealing and popular.
In the UK, the fitness trend was already well-established, but recently got a party makeover.
Fitness classes under neon lights, trail running festivals, and traveling strength training workouts all made working out more of a celebration.
With the fitness market surpassing £5 billion in 2019, expect this trend to only grow in the next decade.
Canada takes this Facebook trending topic in a more DIY direction.
As Canadians flocked to more urban areas, the rise of indoor gardening became a very clear trend.
Facebook trending topics like “houseplant” and “succulent plant” grew 1.5X and 1.3X YoY, respectively.
And again, photo-sharing is a key player here.
On Instagram in Canada, #Plantstagram became a trending hashtag and the rise of the “plant influencer” became a very real phenomenon.
So once again, the question is how to leverage a Facebook trend today that values immersive experiences, both indoor and outdoor.
Leverage this Facebook Trending Topic and Show People Actually Doing Things in Your Ads
These 2020 Facebook trending topics are all about people getting their hands dirty and fully immersing themselves in an activity.
So, transport people directly into an experience with your ads.
One of the best ways to do this is to show people engaging in an activity or project.
For example, Athos shows a split screen of its clothing and its app.
More importantly, it shows someone in the clothing and using it.
This compelling and aspirational image helps people picture themselves using the product and enhancing their workout.
Consider using video ads, too, which can help create an even more immersive ad experience.
For their Baggies shorts line, Patagonia shows a video montage of people wearing them and staying active.
Another aspirational ad, this clothing brand leverages the Facebook trend by highlighting fit-focused individuals that love staying active in order to inspire their customers to do. the same (in the shorts, of course).
Arts and crafts retailer, Blick, also uses video in their project-focused Facebook ads.
They then make it feel more personal by highlighting an individual artist who shows off how they use a Blick product.
Again, this is a way for customers to imagine themselves using the product.
Additionally, it helps inspire and show what real people like them have created.
Making people the focus of your ad creative can be incredibly effective for leveraging this Facebook trend.
Then, showing those individuals engaged in an activity while highlighting the product helps people imagine themselves doing the same.
And don’t forget to use video!
That’s a Wrap On 2020 Facebook Trending Topics!
The new decade is here, and these are the Facebook trending topics every marketer needs to know.
Stay relevant and reach people in the most effective ways by understanding what they’re interested in and talking about.
These Facebook 2020 trends are likely to stick around for a while.
So study up (remember to check out the first part of this guide if you haven’t already!) and get acquainted with how these can apply to your own marketing strategy.
Maybe that means targeting these topics literally and going after esports audiences in Indonesia or getting into the plant-based meat game.
Or, maybe it means taking these topics and turning them into concepts that inform you about how people are thinking and communicating in the new decade.
Whichever it is, make 2020 your best year by understanding and leveraging these Facebook trending topics.
